Posts tagged "the soapbox"

When a public notary in Sao Paulo, Brazil, authorized a civil union between one man and two women, neither she nor the triad expected to make headlines. Now, three months after their three-way relationship was formalized, it has become an international news story with flashy headlines like "'Big Love' In Brazil." The member…

CBS’s new fall show "Elementary" has not even premiered yet, but already nerds everywhere are boycotting it. Why would people write off this modern retelling of the Sherlock Holmes story starring Lucy Liu and Jonny Lee Miller so soon? There are a bunch of (not very good) reasons.

I was recently contacted through my website by a pregnant black woman who inquired about hiring me to perform standup at her baby shower. She and her husband were diehard comedy fans, and thought it would be fun to have a comic perform for their guests. "How did you find me?" I asked. "I Googled…

As some of you may have noticed, I'm really rather fat. I mention it only because it's relevant -- it has a significant impact on my life; people treat me differently because I am fat. Or, in some cases, refuse to treat me. Which is …

To say that I am a fan of the British sci-fi show "Doctor Who" would be and understatement. Not only do I have "DW" viewing parties at my apartment, I own a sonic screwdriver, I’ve eaten fish fingers and custard (a "DW" inside joke), I waited for hours to get a glimpse of the show’…

This weekend, a Missouri Congressman and Senate candidate, Todd Akin, infuriated people everywhere when he claimed that victims of "legitimate rape" do not become pregnant. He was explaining his belief that abortion should be outlawed even in cases of rape. Apparently, Akin believes that the female body has ways to "shut that whole thing…

When the big news was announced last week that Zoe Saldana would be playing singer Nina Simone in a biopic, black cyberspace (yes, there is a "black Twitter" and a "black Facebook") let out a collective "Oh, hell to the naw"! For some it was because they did not believe that Zoe had…

Chadvelyn, LosOcho and OchoSado: those were the three hybrid names that I came up with for my favorite reality TV couple, Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson and Evelyn Lozada. But after only six weeks of marriage, the beautiful sounds of wedded bliss and the hoopla surrounding their much anticipated reality show have been silenced by…

It took me all of 10 seconds to fall madly in love with "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo," the "Toddlers and Tiaras" spin-off about Alana Thompson, the 6-year-old pageant hopeful known for her one-liners and love of Go-Go-Juice, and her self-described redneck family. While I was already enamored with Alana after seeing her on "Toddler…

In light of this weekend's tragic shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, we thought our readers would be interested to learn more about this religion. We reached out to the Sikh Feminist Research Institute for some thoughts on Sikhism. Often I am asked of when I first became aware of…

This piece was originally published on xoJane.com. When I was a senior in high school [above left], I attended this college prep program held in the sanctuary of a Baptist church across the street from my grandmother's $1 Soul Food restaurant in south central Los Angeles. High-achieving nerds from all over the city would meet…

The death of Irish novelist Maeve Binchy earlier this week has inspired a lot of articles, most of them warm tributes to her kind heart, quick wit, and writing ability. British novelist Amanda Craig took a different tack. In a piece published today by The Telegraph, she wonders whether Binchy might have been a better writer…

Despite endless work by anti-sexual violence activists trying to change the narrative, the myth persists that rapists —at least so-called "date rapists" — are men who got a little out of control with lust one night and accidentally went too far. It doesn’t help that this is the story that we usually hear on those…

In the days, weeks and months following a national tragedy, myths settle into our national consciousness. Myths are not falsehoods, per se. Rather, myths are the stories that we repeat to explain a complex and unnerving topic and make sense of the confusion — to label something "good" and "evil," to finger the "bad guy"…

It is usually not my style to meddle in other people's relationships, but I've got to join the chorus of those advising -- in internet comment sections, duh -- Patricia Lagarreta not to marry Jamie Rohrs. Legarreta, Rohrs, and their two kids were among those at the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" i…

Some thoughts for Taylor Cotter (the 22-year-old girl who wrote about wishing she could be poorer on the Huffington Post): Right now things kinda suck. I know. You wrote an oblivious-sounding piece about how you kind of wished you were getting the chance to be poor and scrappy in your 20s, like artistic people…

I have been working in the tech start-up and digital advertising agency worlds for the past six years. These two worlds overlap in a few places—namely social media and the uncertainty of being able to pay their staff in six months. But there is another area where I have seen a commonality so real it…

I recently stumbled on the video of a bride singing Christina Aguilera’s “The Right Man” while she walked down the aisle, and I reacted so strongly that I startled myself. The video opened up a cavern of emotion that, while I knew it was there, went deeper than I realized. And that emotio…

Hey guys? As a woman, and a feminist and a working person, I can honestly say I've never asked if I was going to "have it all." But Anne Marie Slaughter's Atlantic cover article about women's continuing fight to win both the brass ring of family and work seems to have opened up thi…

I'm going to say something as a feminist ladyblogger that I suspect I'm not supposed to say: Why You're Not Married ... Yet: The Straight Talk You Need To Get The Relationship You Deserve, by Tracy McMillan, actually isn't a terrible book. Oh, it has some problematic aspects — and I'll get to those. But…

Simply Irresistible

Over the years, we've poked fun at a lot of "based on a true story" movies that turned out to be bullshit. But then we thought that maybe we should stop giving Hollywood shit for embellishing history a bit if it lets them tell a slightly better story. So instead, we decided to give Hollywood…

As you slog your way through the myriad not-yet-April Fools' Day pranks that plague this nation, revel in this: no one has ever pranked someone better than Michael Jackson pranked Russell Crowe, and he did it for years. In an interview with The Guardian, Crowe revealed that despite having never met Jackson,…